Physician Enters the Mountains

The one leading the way was none other than Xiao Yi Xian.

Today, she was not wearing the loose white robe she usually wore while seeing patients, but a pale white dress suited for movement.

The hem fell only to her calves, revealing slender ankles wrapped in white cloth stockings, while soft-soled deerskin boots covered her feet.

A light cyan silk sash cinched her waist, so slim that one feared it might snap at a touch.

Her smooth long hair was casually pinned up with a wooden hairpin, with a few loose strands falling beside her ears. Her delicate face wore no makeup, yet she was naturally beautiful.

"Quiet down. Don't frighten the young lady."

Mad Blade roared in his booming voice, and the surrounding burly men immediately shut their mouths, leaving only the sound of Adam's apples bobbing.

The girl who had emerged from the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion truly had what it took to leave people holding their breath.

Unlike other physicians, Xiao Yi Xian did not carry a heavy medicine chest on her back. Instead, several exquisite little cloth pouches hung from her waist.

Though she was young, only twelve or thirteen, and had not yet fully grown, she possessed a clear, ethereal air like a fresh spring.

"I'll have to trouble you elder brothers during this trip into the mountains to gather herbs."

Xiao Yi Xian dipped slightly at the waist. Her voice was soft and sweet, yet carried a hint of distance.

"Not troublesome at all!"

"It's the Mad Blade Mercenary Group's blessing to guide Xiao Yi Xian!"

The grown men slapped their chests loudly, as though they could not wait to charge into the mountains and catch a couple of magical beasts for her amusement.

Following closely behind Xiao Yi Xian was a middle-aged man who looked exceptionally kind.

The owner of the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion, Mr. Yao.

He appeared benevolent and approachable, his brocade robes forming a stark contrast with the mercenaries.

"Captain Mad Blade."

Mr. Yao smiled and cupped his hands.

"The place our Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion's physician needs to visit this time is somewhat deep in the mountains, roughly near the outer region of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, not far from the middle region.

"Besides protecting Xiao Yi Xian, I'll also have to trouble a few brothers to help carry some medicinal herbs."

Mad Blade slung his thick-backed Mountain-Splitting Blade over his shoulder and grinned, revealing a mouthful of large yellow teeth.

"Don't worry, Boss Yao.

"As long as the price is right, forget carrying herbs—even if you want us to steal a second-tier magical beast's cub, we won't say a word."

"Hehe, Captain Mad Blade, you jest. What would we need those vicious creatures for?"

Mr. Yao waved a hand and took out a money pouch from his robes, handing it over. "This is the deposit. The rest will be settled when we return."

Mad Blade weighed the pouch in his hand. The flesh on his face twitched, and his grin widened.

"Brothers, get to work! Protect the physician well. If anyone screws up, I'll skin him alive!"

The group set off in grand procession toward the mountain pass east of town.

Xiao Yi Xian walked in the middle of the party, guarded as though she were surrounded by stars.

At times, she lowered her head to arrange the medicine pouches at her waist. At others, she looked up at the distant mountains, completely ignoring the ingratiating gazes around her.

"The Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion's business is getting bigger and bigger."

At a tea stall beside the street, several independent mercenaries said sourly.

"I heard Boss Yao recently established connections in Black Rock City and Wutan City. Soon, he'll even be able to get pills and that rumored Beast Power Pill."

"That's just because he's lucky." Another mercenary spat. "But Xiao Yi Xian is strange too. She refuses to go to the Alchemist Guild in the big cities and insists on staying in this backwater."

"Who knows? Maybe she likes the local game?"

The men let out a round of lewd chuckles.

Meanwhile, deep within the Magical Beast Mountain Range, in an unnamed valley.

Boom!

A thunderous crash shattered the silence of the forest.

An Iron-Armored Porcupine nearly three meters long was sent flying like a ball after being rammed head-on. It crashed through two pine trees as thick as thighs before slamming viciously into a rock wall, where it lay grunting and unable to rise.

One of its two tusks had snapped, while a large portion of the iron-spiked armor on its back had been crushed inward.

Opposite it, Lu Heng shook out his slightly numb right hand.

He was bare-chested. His formerly fair skin was now covered in bruises, and there was even a conspicuous bloody hole in his left shoulder, where the porcupine's tusk had gouged him moments ago.

An ordinary person would have been unable to move with injuries like these.

Yet Lu Heng stood as steadily as ever, and his wound was not even bleeding.

A closer look would reveal that the muscles around the wound were recovering at a visible rate, faint cyan light flowing between flesh and skin.

Within only a few breaths, the bloody hole had already scabbed over.

"A second-tier early-stage beast is still too weak."

Lu Heng curled his lip, walked forward, and stepped on the twitching Iron-Armored Porcupine's head.

He exerted force beneath his foot.

Crack.

The sound of its skull shattering was crisp and pleasing.

Lu Heng deftly pulled out a dagger, split open the porcupine's head, and picked out an earth-yellow Magic Core. He casually wiped the blood off on his pants and tossed it into his Storage Ring.

"So this is the tyranny of the Azure Wood Body."

Lu Heng lowered his head and looked at his shoulder, which had already fully recovered.

Not even a scar remained.

Over the past few days, in order to temper this body and his battle instincts, he had stubbornly refrained from using a single combat skill.

It was all pure hand-to-hand fighting.

He tore at wolf packs, wrestled black bears, and even competed with venomous snakes in reaction speed.

Though every battle left him covered in wounds, the thrill of feeling his body grow a little tougher after each injury was truly addictive.

Grrr...

His stomach growled at the worst possible moment.

Lu Heng sighed and dragged the several-hundred-pound porcupine toward the stream.

"I'm getting sick of roasted meat every day."

As Lu Heng prepared the pork, he missed Ya Fei's care immensely.

"That braised Red Flame Pig Trotter, that steamed Bluefin Fish... tsk."

He placed the skinned and cleaned pork leg over the fire, sprinkled on some coarse salt and cumin he carried with him, and watched the meat sizzle and drip with oil. Yet his gaze was somewhat distant.

"I wonder what Sister Ya Fei is doing now. Has she been taking her medicine properly? If she dares slack off, I'll definitely spank her when I get back."

The next day.

Lu Heng rose early.

He washed his face by the stream and looked at the youth reflected in the water.

Though he was still not yet eleven, after this period of fighting and "gorging himself"—mainly on meat and pills—he seemed to have grown another inch. His shoulders had broadened, and the lines of his once somewhat childish face had become firmer.

"Let's set a small goal for today."

Lu Heng stood up and rolled his neck, producing a series of crisp cracks.

"I'll find a second-tier mid-stage beast to test myself against. Preferably one with thick skin and tough flesh, so I can hit it a few more times."

With a tap of his toes, he sprang up into the treetops like an agile ape. After a few leaps, he vanished into the depths of the dense forest.

"A second-tier mid-stage Fire-Explosive Ape is quite strong, but it's not very bright."

Lu Heng casually tossed a crimson Magic Core that still retained some warmth into his Storage Ring, then gave the smoking ape corpse on the ground a kick.